Sunday, October 2, 2011

This isn't my favorite, but I really love Joey Pants (RALPH CIFARETTO from The Sopranos). From inside a coffin Ulric explains how he came to be there---a crazy scientist implanted a specific gland from a cat into his brain, giving him the cat's nine lives. The scientist wastes the first life by shooting Ulric to prove the experiment's success but Ulric eventually gains fame and fortune in a circus act where he is killed and then resurrected in front of a live audience. The twist comes when he miscounts the number of lives he has to spend . . . the realization comes to him as he's buried inside the coffin.

There are some really excellent bits of production in this episode that make it comical; that whiney circus woman he ends up dating, the toothless old bag who wins the lottery and gets to fry him with electricity ("YOU BET YOUR ASS I'M READY!") and Robert Wuhl as that obnoxious circus barker. Also, "Polanski wants to film my life story. All of them." They used some interesting wipes between scenes, pieces of glass shattering, and other random, explosive shapes. Funny. And Joey also had an almost Nicholson-like evil grin in one of his early scenes just as the scientist discovers him, eyebrows arched and everything; that was awesome.

But honestly my favorite part of this was The Crypt Keeper's synopsis at the end---before he does it, he gently pets a black cat with his ghoulish hands, "There, there. Nice Kitty," and then, as it jumps off the table away from him, "GET!" You can watch it below:

I love Robert Wuhl. Maybe Arliss was the best show ever for all I know. I never watched it because... wasn't it about sports or something? A sports agent? I figured I wouldn't get it, so I never tuned in. Too bad, because I do like Robert Wuhl.

I mean, I liked him in this and I liked him in Batman, and I sort of maybe kind of remembering thinking his standup was ok.